Sons & Daughters of Thunder film composer William Campbell came onboard in June to create a fresh new film score for the docudrama and we could not be more pleased with it. If you haven't had a chance to view the 3-minute opening of the film and hear a sampling during the film's credit roll, do check it out.
Some final changes will be applied and then the score mixed and edited into the revised version of the film. Other visual effects and revisions have also been made to Thunder in the last two months, and it will be ready for film festivals and other special screenings this fall.
While these revisions have improved the film, the additional work has impacted our plans to release the DVD this summer, and has pushed the Sons & Daughters of Thunder DVD release to later this year. We apologize for the delay, but it is unavoidable. We will update you when we have a firm release date to share. The Thunder DVD will include the feature-length film, filmmakers' commentary alternative audio track, additional scenes, and optional onscreen captions.
We are pleased by the enthusiastic response to Thunder! We are looking forward to several special engagements this fall, including a screening of the film at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford, Connecticut on September 12th at 6 p.m. and a screening event in the works at the Clooney Center in Augustus, Kentucky September 20th. The film will also screen in Marengo, Iowa on September 15th at 1:00 p.m. at the wonderful Marengo Public Library as a special nod to Harriet Beecher Stowe--more details to come. In 2020, Thunder will screen at the magnificent Fayette Opera House on April 18 and 19th in Fayette, Ohio. We will announce more upcoming events and film festival selections this fall.
For more information about William Campbell's work visit www.williamcampbellmusic.com.
Based on the critically-acclaimed play by Earlene Hawley and Curtis Heeter, Sons & Daughters of Thunder tells the true story of the 1834 Cincinnati, Ohio Lane Theological Seminary anti-slavery debates. The controversial meetings, led by abolitionist and firebrand Theodore Weld (played by actor Thomas Alan Taylor), were the first to publicly discuss the end of slavery in America. The meetings angered Cincinnati residents and Lane Seminary officials, who promptly slapped a gag order on the entire student body. This action was followed by a freedom of speech protest and mass exodus of Lane students to Oberlin College.
A young Harriet Beecher’s (played by actress Jessica Taylor) exposure to the debates and Weld's continuing work to free the slaves sparked a flame that led her to write her magnum opus Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Sons & Daughters of Thunder was partially funded by a grant from the Quad City Arts, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, with support from Friends of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation, and the Bix Biederbecke Inn. The Moline Foundation and the Shell Rock Community Historical Society served as the fiscal sponsors on the film project. The film is co-produced by Kelly & Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films and Kent Hawley. Kimberly Kurtenbach is the Executive Producer of the film.
Kelly & Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films are the producers of multiple award-winning historical documentaries and the Mid-America Emmy® nominated documentaries Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City, Country School: One Room – One Nation and Letters Home to Hero Street. They are currently in post production on the documentaries Becoming Harriet Beecher Stowe, and A World Away from Hero Street.
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